Showing Off His Intelligence

After Ao Zhan finished speaking, he looked at Qian Daoliu and saw that the man's mouth had fallen open, his entire body frozen in shock.

"Grandpa Qian, what's wrong?" Ao Zhan waved a hand in front of him, bringing him back to his senses.

Qian Daoliu suddenly snapped out of it, his eyes filled with a trace of fear as he looked at Ao Zhan.

Strength was not frightening. But when strength and intelligence coexisted in one person, that person became terrifying.

Ao Zhan was very strong—strong enough to fight a Soul Douluo the moment his martial soul awakened. But his strength lay not only in his power, but also in his intelligence.

Just from the way Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong interacted, along with Qian Renxue's words, he had managed to deduce the truth of the matter. Truly impressive!

Ao Zhan found the fear in Qian Daoliu's eyes somewhat amusing.

Of course, he could tell why the man was afraid. But this was nothing yet; he had not even finished speaking.

Ignoring Qian Daoliu's gaze, Ao Zhan continued, "But there's another question. Why did Uncle Qian do this? From what I've observed, Uncle Qian isn't some lust-crazed man. He doesn't even have any maidservants around him. The people closest to him are Elder Chrysanthemum and Elder Ghost."

"If he truly had other intentions toward the Holy Maiden, he only needed to lay the groundwork for their relationship much earlier."

"After all, the Holy Maiden is Uncle Qian's disciple. He practically raised her himself. With his looks, all he needed was to cultivate their feelings from childhood, and winning over the Holy Maiden would have been easy. It never would have turned into the situation it is now. Therefore, there is only one possibility: Uncle Qian forcing the Holy Maiden was entirely a spur-of-the-moment decision."

"And the most likely reason he would have such an idea was that he discovered the Holy Maiden's heart did not belong to Spirit Hall. And the most likely reason her heart would not belong to the Spirit Hall that had raised her her entire life was love."

"She must have fallen in love with someone from another faction—perhaps even an enemy faction of Spirit Hall. If he had merely been a commoner with no force behind him, I believe Uncle Qian would not have torn apart a pair of lovers."

Ao Zhan shrugged. "It was because I reached that conclusion that I have always kept a respectful distance from the Holy Maiden. In my eyes, she is someone who betrays the people who raised her. Who knows whether, one day, she might kill me for the man she loves, so that the faction behind him would not be threatened by me?"

Qian Daoliu was already too stunned to speak.

He only wanted to know how Ao Zhan's brain had been made. How could he have guessed the entire chain of events so early, and gotten it almost entirely right?

How old had he been back then!?

Were he and Ao Zhan really both human?

Why did he not have a mind like that?

Still, Qian Daoliu finally understood why Ao Zhan had been so wary when he first met Bibi Dong.

That was right. Just as Ao Zhan had guessed, the Seven Great Elders and Qian Xunji all knew about this matter. They simply had not thought too deeply about it. They had assumed Ao Zhan acted that way because Qian Renxue had suffered grievances at Bibi Dong's hands, which was why he rejected her so strongly.

After recovering from his shock, Qian Daoliu could not help but smile bitterly. "So you knew everything. Then Xue'er..."

"Don't worry. I haven't told Xue'er," Ao Zhan said truthfully.

He really had not told Qian Renxue. Although she had the right to know, and learning earlier would have spared her from being hurt every day by Bibi Dong's attitude toward her.

But back then, his words carried no weight. Speaking out would only have brought him a deadly disaster. After all, this was a scandal of the Qian Clan. At the time, his martial soul had not awakened yet. No matter how well he could fight, if he could not become a soul master, even the finest martial skills would have been useless.

But things were different now. He had already planned to choose a time to let Qian Renxue know.

Bibi Dong was, in the end, still a hidden danger. He absolutely could not let her affect Qian Renxue.

"That's good. But, Xiao Zhan, I still want to know what you think of what your Uncle Qian did." As Qian Daoliu spoke, he was even somewhat cautious.

Ao Zhan now seemed almost monstrously intelligent in his eyes. Moreover, Ao Zhan was very close to Qian Renxue, so his opinion of Qian Xunji was extremely important.

"I don't have much of an opinion. I just think Uncle Qian did the right thing."

"The right thing?" Qian Daoliu was dumbfounded.

That unfilial son of his, who had violated his own disciple and possessed none of the Qian Clan's spirit—Ao Zhan actually thought he had done the right thing?

"That's right. If Uncle Qian truly did anything wrong in this matter, it was that he was not ruthless enough. Grandpa Qian, you just said it yourself. The Holy Maiden told that Yu Xiaogang fellow many things about Spirit Hall and even wanted to elope with him."

"That was betrayal toward Spirit Hall! Naked, outright betrayal! Spirit Hall raised her, and Uncle Qian even made her, an outsider, the Holy Maiden. She was even qualified to inherit the position of Pope in the future. They had never treated her poorly. Yet she betrayed Spirit Hall for that useless Yu Xiaogang. What Uncle Qian did was entirely reasonable."

Hearing this, Qian Daoliu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Ao Zhan's orderly reasoning left him utterly speechless.

That was right. Listening to Ao Zhan put it that way, neither the Qian Clan nor Spirit Hall had ever wronged Bibi Dong. On the contrary, she had been at fault first. What his son did had merely been cutting their losses in time.

No, no, Qian Daoliu, how could you think that?

That unfilial son had destroyed the most precious thing a woman possessed. It was simply a disgrace to the Qian Clan's family traditions!

But...

Qian Daoliu's thoughts were in utter chaos. Two voices were arguing in his mind.

One said that Qian Xunji had done nothing wrong, and that Bibi Dong was the one at fault. The other said that no matter what reason Qian Xunji had, he could not violate a woman.

There were countless ways to punish her. Why did he have to use such a despicable method?

The two voices kept arguing, arguing until Qian Daoliu could not help rubbing his temples.

Seeing that Qian Daoliu seemed deeply troubled by his words, Ao Zhan said, "Grandpa Qian, different people have different views on this matter. In your eyes, what Uncle Qian did was utterly despicable, but in Grandpa Golden Crocodile's eyes, it might have been perfectly natural."

Qian Daoliu's movements halted as he remembered his fellow elders.

Indeed, after learning that Qian Xunji had violated Bibi Dong, those brothers of his had said nothing. Those who disliked Bibi Dong still disliked her, and none of them believed Qian Xunji had done anything wrong.

Could it be that his heart was simply too soft?

Ao Zhan knew this was ultimately something Qian Daoliu needed time to think through, because it ran completely contrary to the Qian Clan spirit he had always regarded as truth.

"Grandpa Qian, I'll go find Xue'er first."

Qian Daoliu glanced at him and nodded. "Go on."

After taking a few steps, Ao Zhan turned back and added, "Oh, right, Grandpa Qian. You don't need to worry about Xue'er's and my soul rings. You should think things over properly yourself. If anything comes up, I'll go to Grandpa Golden Crocodile and the others."

With that, Ao Zhan left. Qian Daoliu watched his retreating figure grow farther and farther away, muttering, "Could it be... that what that unfilial son did really was not wrong?"